The invention relates to soil moisture monitoring device. More particularly, the invention relates to a device which warns a caretaker that a plant requires watering, and further indicates when the plant is in grave need of watering.
It is well known that in order for plants to survive, they need water. In particular, the soil in which they are planted must remain moist. Failure to provide the plant with adequate moisture will effect the lifespan of the plant, and will prevent it from reaching its potential. The most intuitive way to keep the soil moist is to water the plant periodically. However, the frequency of watering required to keep the soil moist varies with the environment in which the plant is growing. The soil moisture content can even vary between two potted plants positioned right alongside each other. Accordingly, the plant caretaker must continually manually check the soil of each plant to see if it is in need of watering.
Automatic plant watering devices are available to automate the task of plant watering. However, these devices typically work using timers. Since the soil moisture can depend on so many factors, including atmospheric temperature and humidity, it is usually difficult to predict what an appropriate watering interval will be. Accordingly, such an automatic plant watering system would usually end up watering the plant either too frequently or too infrequently.
Several devices have been proposed which indicate the adequacy or inadequacy of soil moisture. For Example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,417 to Behob et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,678 to Lohoff; U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,098 to Meyer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,445 to Burrows and U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,775 to Sheriff all disclose different systems which indicate when the soil is too dry and/or too moist. However, these devices fail to warn the caretaker of the severity of the situation.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.